Community Good Friday service presents seven words of hope

By Janet Morales

The last words Christ said as he hung on the cross are usually viewed as sad, depressing and heart wrenching. But area pastors, members of the Randolph County Ministerial Alliance, found comfort in the seven last words and conveyed that hope to those in attendance at the Community Good Friday service held at Jefferson Avenue Methodist Church.

The call to worship said “We’d rather just get on with Easter. But Easter is meaningless, hollow, without Good Friday. A great mystery of our faith is that new life, new hope, new creation emerge out of suffering and even death. . . Let us praise God who is ever with us in joy and sorrow.”

• Eli, eli lama sabachthani?   “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34)

Rev. Jodie Jackson, Sr., pastor of First Christian Church of Salisbury, called Jesus a revolutionary, boldly proclaiming the coming kingdom that is based on the grace of God. But He fell into disfavor with the religious establishment, said Jackson.

“His father had turned His back upon Him,” said Jackson. “Our sin nailed Him to the cross. Knowing the answer, He asked – why? He was forsaken so we would not be forsaken.”

• “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Dr. Dorothy Smith, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, reminded the audience that the Lord is the only one who may enact vengeance. She said we must remember who god is and what he has done for us.

“We nailed Him to the cross but he held it not against us,” said Dr. Smith. “He died so we may have life.”

• “Woman, behold your son; [then he said to the disciple] behold your mother.”   (John 19: 26-27)

Rev. Dave Cahen, pastor of First Church of God, said Mary, Jesus’ mother had full knowledge all her life of His destiny.

“He called her ‘woman’ not mother so it would not cut deeper,” said Cahen. “It was a testimony to John’s prudence and fidelity that Jesus would put his mother, with Joseph long passed, in John’s care.”

Cahen said historians have said Mary stayed with John for 11 years until her death. This was an example of how we can be of service to Him or His,” said Cahen.

• “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”   (Luke 23:43)

These are the words Jesus said to the thief on the cross who confessed his belief in the final hour of his life.

“These are beautiful words He said to you and me,” said Rev. Will Beaman, retired pastor, Seventh Day Adventist. “The sinner accepted the messiah on the last day of his life. ‘For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.’”

• “I thirst.” (John 19:28)

Rev. May Etta Hall, pastor of the Grant AME Church, said Jesus was not crying out for physical water for he was the water of life.

“It was a spiritual longing,” she said, “a thirst to restore humanity’s relationship with God. In Revelation 7:16 It says, ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.’ He endured the thirst so God could wipe the tears from our eyes.”

• “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

“What is finished,” asked Rev. Wallis Landrum, pastor of Coates Street Presbyterian Church. “Is it his teachings, His healing, His work on Earth, His battle with the religious establishment? His life?”

Landrum said there were many defeats at that location and Jesus’ cry was the ultimate defeat of god.

“But defeat turned into victory,” said Landrum. “We were there when we crucified the Lord. The one on the cross cried out “It is finished”  – the war with Satan is finished; the sinful separation from our loving God is finished.”

• “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)

“Into His hands we must commit our spirits,” said Jeff Howard, associate pastor, Family Life Fellowship. “Without the crucifixion, His life would have been in vain and our hope would have been lost.”

The singing group His Friends provided two selections and Doug Coonce, pastor of Echoes of Calvary Church, sand and played the piano for the offertory hymn.